An aircraft in flight rotates in three dimensions about three axes. The longitudinal axis, running nose-to-tail, is the roll axis; movement of the ailerons rotates the airplane about this axis. The lateral axis, called the pitch axis, passes wingtip-to-wingtip; pitch, nose up or down, is controlled by the elevators. The vertical axis, running top-to-bottom, is the yaw axis; rudder motion yaws the nose left or right.
Expert behind this article
Jim Goodrich
Jim Goodrich is a pilot, aviation expert and founder of Tsunami Air.
Which axis runs from nose to tail in an aircraft?
The longitudinal axis is an imaginary line that runs from the center of the nose through the middle of the airplane and exits at the tail. This axis runs lengthwise down the aircraft, passing through the center of gravity. Because aircraft roll around this axis, the longitudinal axis is also called the roll axis of the aircraft.
Longitudinal alignment runs from nozzle to rear. This is the underlying axis for moving the aircraft. During a banking movement, I noticed that the nose started to turn about this unseen diagonal.
Jim GoodrichPilot, Airplane Broker and Founder of Tsunami Air
What is the name of the left and right movement of the nose of a plane?
Yaw is the name of the left-and-right movement of the nose of a plane. Yaw is rotation about the vertical axis, the axis that runs up and down through the center of gravity. When the pilot presses the left pedal the rudder deflects left, the tail is pushed right, and the nose yaws left. Pressing the right pedal deflects the rudder right, pushes the tail left, and yaws the nose to the right. Thus the rudder, the hinged rear section of the vertical stabilizer, is the primary control surface for yaw.
What is the name of the up and down movement of the nose of the plane?
The up and down movement of the nose is called pitch motion. Rotation about this axis is called pitch, occurring around the lateral axis running from wing to wing. A positive pitching motion raises the nose of the aircraft and lowers the tail, altering the vertical direction the nose is pointing.
Pitching motion is caused by the deflection of the elevator, the small moving section on the trailing edge of the horizontal tail surface that controls pitch. Moving the elevator up pitches the nose up, and moving the elevator down pitches the nose down, altering lift on the horizontal tail surface. Elevators are the primary control surfaces for pitch, allowing the pilot to change altitude by pulling the stick back to move the elevator upward or pushing it forward to move the elevator downward.
What causes the movement of the nose of a plane?
The pitching motion of the nose is caused by deflection of the elevator. Moving the elevator up decreases the amount of lift generated by the horizontal tail surface. The overall effect causes the tail of the aircraft to move down and the nose to pitch up. Moving the elevator down increases the amount of lift generated by the horizontal tail surface which causes the tail of the aircraft to move up and the nose to move down.
The lift generated by the wings produces a pitching moment, rotating the aircraft about its lateral axis nose-down/tail up. The horizontal stabilizer usually creates a downward force which balances the nose-down moment created by the wing lift force.
Adverse yaw moves the nose of the aircraft opposite to the aileron application while rudder deflection creates sideward lift that moves the tail and yaws the nose opposite direction, for directional rather than pitch changes.
How does a plane lift its nose?
To lift the nose, the pilot pulls the stick back, the elevators hinge at the trailing edge of the horizontal stabiliser and deflect upward. Upward deflection produces downward lift at the tail, which raises the nose. In a canard arrangement the elevators are hinged to the rear of a foreplane and move in the opposite sense: they go down to increase lift at the front and lift the nose up.
Raising the nose changes the angle of attack of the wing. The elevator increases tail-down force and greater downward force holds the tail down and counterbalances the heavy nose. Lift combines with thrust to create a resultant force that overcomes weight when the nose is raised, so the aircraft climbs. During take-off the elevator pitches the nose up during rotation. The airplane must tilt the nose up to keep the angle of attack in an efficient range.